Friday, July 31, 2009

God's Energy


These are from our Western KS drive – we loved looking at them. Majestic as they twirl in the Kansas wind, gracefully persistent, creating natural energy. I really had the urge to go stand under one. Steve wouldn’t accommodate me (this time!). I explained to the kiddos that it was called a “wind farm” – of course they wanted to know if that was the same as a “fart farm.” My wisest wise guy asks: “Does God fart? Is that what the wind is?” People say thunder is God talking…..OK – won’t go there anymore…..it has been a long week!

Wind is amazing, it can be soft, calming, reckless, wild, damaging….it has many uses and the earth needs wind. Someone can be called “full of wind.” Chicago is the “windy city.” Then there is wind via tornados! Yo Dorothy and Toto! OK – where am I going with all this? God created the wind. It has purpose. God has created us – we all have purpose.

Genesis 8:1 But God remembered Noah and all the wild animals and the livestock that were with him in the ark, and he sent a wind over the earth, and the waters receded.

May God send his “gentle” wind over you, may your waters (trials) all recede.

Tuesday, July 28, 2009

A New Family for Courtney

This is it Courtney - the wagon is rolling faster and faster toward a Finalization day for you! This is your New Family - a brother who picks the nose of a bear sculpture, another brother who teases you a lot, a little sister who loves your Barbies and Polly Pockets, cigarette butts in the family picture when no one smokes - we are a ragamuffin group - but we all love each other.

Sweet memories! Colorado was great!

Monday, July 27, 2009

Friday, July 17, 2009

Catch ya later

Catch ya later - takin' a blogin break....leavin' the flat land for the high land.

Wednesday, July 15, 2009

Pet Peeve

OK, liking to keep my blogs as up beat as possible, but this really annoys me. I’m not a tree-hugger greeny, but with the world’s water shortages and the push they create in our children at school to “watch your water use” I’d like to know why farmers don’t have to maintain ethics of water usage? Kansas and Nebraska & Kansas and Colorado are fighting over water rights suing each other, other states have major shortages, global warming, etc etc. I think farmers should be fined when they "water" irresponsibly.

It rained last night. It rained today…it rained tonight...this pivot was watering at 7:30 am the corn crop and road as usual….they need to put these things on better timers or something! You can’t tell me with all the GPS technology that they couldn’t be more advanced on pivots! They should have sensors to keep it from watering if the soil content has adequate moisture.
Then again, sitting your car under an irrigation pivot watering the road is cheaper than a car wash! Trying to find the positive!?

Friday, July 10, 2009

Corny Corn Post

OK – see the precision that this corn row has….but if you look way down, you’ll see a few stalks growing in the ditch area. I pass many immaculate fields daily – standing tall and exact. Planted with GPS and technology that would befuddle my Russian Grandfathers today, the corn is so precisely there….then those stray stalks in the ditch. A few seeds got rebellious and look where they ended up. They won’t be harvested with the rest of their relatives. While they stand alone, they are alone, yet these guys have strength and grow. Do you ever feel like those corn stalks? They have to eek their food / water source from a different supply than their relatives, sucking up their life from the leftovers. Yet to admire them, growing among the weeds, taking their stand…..definitely not falling into peer pressure from their relatives, they even have a better view than the relatives inward! Yet their risk is greater – they could be mowed at any time, easy pick for a raccoon and the elements will be harsher on them.

Matthew 13: 3-9 has Jesus telling this parable we all know:
Then he told them many things in parables, saying: "A farmer went out to sow his seed. 4As he was scattering the seed, some fell along the path, and the birds came and ate it up. 5Some fell on rocky places, where it did not have much soil. It sprang up quickly, because the soil was shallow. 6But when the sun came up, the plants were scorched, and they withered because they had no root. 7Other seed fell among thorns, which grew up and choked the plants. 8Still other seed fell on good soil, where it produced a crop—a hundred, sixty or thirty times what was sown. 9He who has ears, let him hear."

We as Christians need to be a little like those corn stalks in the ditch and the others in the field. We need to keep our stand being strong when things go wrong, but need to know when we need others to support us and then lean on them for support. We can’t do it alone, yet each of us has individual choices to make that only we can carry out in our daily walk.

If you are a corn stalk, harvest is your death – but by that death you give life to others.
Jesus did the same thing for us. Yes that is a JD Combine book with a corn header!

Wednesday, July 8, 2009

Farmers 'N' Fire

Farmers 'N' Fire - starts like this after wheat harvest is done. Every day as I commute home for a few weeks the skyline is full of smoke lifting skyward, like today.
They burn off the wheat stubble. When I first married almost 26 years ago and moved to Kansas, burning wheat stubble was very popular in Manitoba where I came from but not done much here in Kansas. For me the smell of smoke reminds me of fall, not summer. Over the years, the practise has increased along with no-till farming here in Kansas.
When I saw this fire and the farmers keeping watch - I wondered "What if God spoke to them through that fire like he did Moses and the burning bush? Wouldn't they pee their pants in surprise? Or would they even recognize Him...surely even today people would listen. Would they call 911 or report it to the paper or ignore it or make a pact not to tell anyone, or tell people and they'd think they' smoked something else besides stubble? "

Maybe some days I need a burning bush....so caught up in the whirlwind of life, to take pause and listen to God - a good reminder for me to do that more often. When I realize houses and barns aren't burning, I can find beauty in the odd smoke filled skys.

"After forty years had passed, an angel appeared to Moses in the flames of a burning bush in the desert near Mount Sinai." Acts 7:30

We recently studied this passage in Sunday School, some wondering if it was an actual burning bush or plant or metaphor. Some believe that it refers more to Mt Sinai and from Old Testament passages of fire on Mt Sinai may have been incorrectly translated to the New Testament. I'm not a biblical scholar. so I'll stick with what the burning bush represents to me and my faith today.

Monday, July 6, 2009

Reflections of the 4th

Reflections of July 4th, 2009
To be this guy - high in the sky, free, soaring, trusting, alone, reflectiive. We don't know who he is - but he flys over our home from time to time - the kiddos love to watch him come & go.
The "roofing" project. Grandpa needed a new roof - this is what we do, family comes together, working along side each other, not all of us can do the splits like Jonathan here, but heh, we do out part!


Sophia was on the grass saying over and over "Hi Daddy" and he patiently waved at her each time. Sigh....love that man.
The ground crew helpers picked up MANY nails and MANY shingles, throwing them into the back of Grandpa's truck to haul to the dumpster.
This is what they gathered.....

Butt shots - a family affair!

Things I didn't grab the camera for, but are committed to memory are: fireworks, lots of fireworks, partial family of 20 at the table, burgers and brats with friends, great pie, more fireworks, fulfilling weekend. Like Courtney said when is was all over..."that was fun."

Friday, July 3, 2009

July 3rd ~ the fun begins.


I enjoyed a coca cola on ice...
They did this...Tobias is so patient with her.
My face maker.
She tries to be like them. Poor baby - walk your own path!
She had "mucho funo!"

Tobias say: "Here Sophia, let me show you how to use this."
Tobais then says: "Ahh, forget it, I'lll just shoot him myself."

Have a safe weekend!

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